Printing plate



DF 3933053 H. J. mwmmm'mm PRINTING PLATE Filed May 25, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l To DE il BLANK ST0' aientecl Aprm 28, 1936 i irED STATE PRINllllNG PLATE Application May 23, 1935, Serial No. 23,000

14 Claims.

This invention relates to printing plates of the portable type and more p-articularly to devices adapted to serve not only as printing plates but also as customers tokens for identication in department stores and other retail establishments. Plates of this type and machines for printing with such plates are disclosed, for example, in the following patents of the assignee 0f this patent: No. 1,795,480, No. 1,801,593, No. 1,801,594, No. 1,801,595, No. 1,801,596, No. 1,801,- 597, No. 1,829,586, No. 1,852,644, No..1,912,264, No. 1,945,264, and No. 1,951,596.

An outstanding diiculty with plates oi this character results from their tendency to become distorted, sometimes due to abuse in the printing machines, but usually due to twisting and bending while carried in pockets or pocket-books. Prior printing plates, when distorted, have not printed well, usually printing some of the letters too heavily andV others too lightly or not at all.

Heretofore all efforts to overcome this difficulty have been in the direction of reinforcing or stiffening the plates to prevent distortion.

' These efforts have not only been unsuccessful,

due to limitations in weight, hardness of metal, etc., but in many cases they have aggravated the trouble by making it more diicult to straighten the plates after distortion without substantially reducing distortions.

The present invention attacks the problem in the opposite direction; instead of stiffening the plates they are made more pliable so that they are not so likely to become permanently distorted. When they are so distorted they may readily be straightenedby hand and indeed they print substantially as well without being straightened before use in the machine. This result is obtained by providing one or more openings in that portion of the plate in which the letters are embossed, the openings preferably being in the form oi slits extending parallel with the rows of letters at least substantially the full length of the rows. By providing a plurality of slits the plate is divided into bands, with o ne or morev rows of letters per band, the bands being flexible to permit the letters on the respective bands to adjust themselves to the proper printing level more or less independently of the letters on adjacent bands. The slits terminate short of the ends of the plate so that the resulting bands are interconnected by the marginal portions of the plate which constitute a frame for the central printing portion. The greatest flexibility is obtained by providing a slit between each pair of (Gl. lill-369) juxtaposed rows of letters and above and below the top and bottom rows respectively, but under most conditions a lesser number of rows aords adequate flexibility. In the case of a plate having four lines of letters for example, one slit between the two middle lines and slits above and below the top and bottom lines, respectively, af-

ford a degree of flexibility almost as great as though five slits were employed. Indeed a single slit at the top or bottom of the plate aiiords a marked degree of ilexibility as well as other advantages as hereinafter pointed out.

For the purpose of illustration, typical embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a rear View of one form of printing plate;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front view of another form of printing plate;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section on line lli-l of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional View showing one way of using the printing plate;

Fig. 6 is a front view of still another form of printing plate;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the base or platen of a printing machine such as shown in copending application Serial No. 15,073, led April 6, 1935; and

Figs. 8 and 9 are transverse sections of the machine shown in Fig. 7 with the plate of Fig. 7 improperly applied thereto in two diierent positions respectively.

The particular embodiments of the invention illustrated in the drawings comprise printing plates I of the type disclosed in the patent to Dugdale No. 1,912,437, granted June 6, 1933. The central portion is embossed to form the printing characters 2 in non-reversed order, a recess is provided in the back of the plate by transverse bending of the plate near the margin to form offset portions comprising shoulders 3 with flanges 4 outside the shoulders. 'Ihe flanges along the long edges of the plate have integral extensions which are folded back against the flanges to form lips 5 which overlap the recess and therefore overhang the margins of the card 6 mounted in the recess. As shown in Fig. 1, the lips 5 terminate short of one end of the plate (the right-hand end in Fig. 1) so that the card may be inserted in the recess by slipping it endwise under the lips between the right-hand ends of the lips and the Shoulder at the right-hand end of the plate. To

prevent accidental displacement of the card a struck-up tab 8 is provided to overhang the end of the card after the card has been slipped into the recess.

In accordance with the principle of the present invention the central raised portion of the plate carrying the embossed letters is provided with slits 9 extending endwise of the plate between certain of the rows of letters and above and below the top and bottom letters. In Figs. 1 and 2 a slit is provided between each pair of adjacent rows of letters, whereas in Figs. 3 and 4 each band dened by the slits carries two rows of letters. While the greater number of slits illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 provides somewhat greater iiexibility, I have found that the fewer number illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 is satisfactory in most cases.

Fig. 5 illustrates a portion of a printing machine such as shown in the patent to Dugdale No. 1,795,480, granted March 10, 1931, this machine comprising a base plate I l having a raised central portion l2 to fit into the recess in the back of the printing plate I and a surrounding channel I3 to receive the offset marginal portion of the plate. The paper I4 to be printed is laid over the printing plate and a sheet of carbon paper or an ink ribbon l5 is disposed over the sheet to be printed. The roller I6 is then rolled over the carbon paper or ink ribbon compressing it against the sheet to be printed and the latter against the printing plate. By arranging the letters in nonreversed order on the plate they are caused to print sheets in non-reversed order, it being understood of course that the present invention is in nowise restricted to the use of this non-reversed order.

From the foregoing it will be evident that when using a plate constructed in accordance with the present invention, in a printing machine such as illustrated for example in Fig. 5, each row of letters can be pressed downwardly against the raised portion I2 of the base or platen so that even if the plate is considerably distorted when placed in the machine each row of letters will print legibly.

As fully disclosed in the aforesaid copending application the printing machine illustrated in Fig. 7 comprises a base or platen having a raised central portion 20 surrounded by a depressed channel 2|. Overhanging the rearward side of the channel 2l is a lip 22. This lip prevents the printing plate from being applied to the platen directly from above. To apply the printing plate to the platen, with the offset marginal portion of' theY plate seating in the channel 2l and the raised central portion 20 projecting up into the recess in the back of the plate, the rear edge of the plate must first be inserted under the lip 22 and the plate then swung downwardly against the plate. A pin 23 extends through the lip 22, thence through the marginal portion of the channel 2| and thence into the platen. the printing plate being notched as shown at 24 in Fig. 6 to accommodate this pin. Another pin 25 is provided in the channel 2l to fit into the recess 25 in the opposite edge of the plate. These pins are intended'` to prevent the use of plates of unauthorized customers, the plates of each customer being notched to correspond to the pins of the machines in those stores in which the customer has credit. For example, the pins 23 in the machines of the stores of a certain city may be arranged at diiferent locations alongy the channel 2 l, each customer having his plate notched at one or more places corresponding to the location of the pins in the particular stores in which he has established credit. On the other hand, the pins 25 in all of the machines of a certain city may be arranged at the same location.

It has been found that in some cases sales clerks fail to insert the edge of the plate underV the lip 22 but on the contrary apply the plate to the machine with the upper margin of the plate overlying the lip 22 as shown in Fig. 8. In the majority of such cases the customer has authorized credit at the store where he presents the plate and it is therefore desirable that the plate should print in the normal way even though misapplied to the machine. By providing a single slit in the plate as illustrated at 9 in Figs. 6, 8 and 9 the plate will print satisfactorily when thus misapplied. This is accomplished as illustrated in Fig. 8 because of the fact that the pressure roller I6' can press the central portion of the plate down against the platform 28 by virtue of the slit 9', thereby causing all the rows of letters to print satisfactorily; However if a customer presents his plate in a city where he does not have a charge account, and therefore does not have his plate notched to accommodate the pin 25 as located in the machines in that city;l his plate will not seat in the channel 2|, even if properly applied to the machine, but will assume the position illustrated in Fig. 9 where the right-hand margin of the plate is held in elevated position by the pin 25. Without a slit at the bottom of the plate corresponding to the slit 9 at the top of the plate, the plate will not print for the reason that the roller presses the paper against the plate only along one side as illustrated in Fig. 9. Thus the sales clerks attention is called to the fact that the customer does not have authorized credit.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A sheet metal printing plate comprising parallel bands each having raised letters and marginal portions interconnecting the bands at the ends, said bands being flexible transversely of the plane of the plate to permit each band to move independently to proper printing level.

2. A sheet metal printing plate comprising parallel bands each having raised letters and a frame portion surrounding said bands and interconnecting them together at their ends, the bands being independently movable transversely of the plane of the plate.

3. A sheet metal printing plate having a central portion provided with rows of raised letters and offset marginal portions integral with the raisedletter portion, the plate having openings adjacent the rows in the central portion only.

4. A sheet metal printing plate having a central portion provided with rows of raised letters and offset marginal portions integral with the raised-letter portion, the plate having slits extending parallel to said rows in the central portion only.

5. A sheet metal printing plate having a central portion provided with rows of raised letters and offset marginal portions integral with the raised-letter portion, the plate having openings between certain of the rows and above and below the top and bottom rows respectively, the openings being coniined to said central portion.

6. A printing plate having a central portion provided with rows of raised letters and oiset marginal portions integral with the raised-letter portion, the plate having slits extending parallel to said rows between certain of the rows and above and below the top and bottom rows respectively, said openings being conned to said central portion.

7. A printing device of the type used as a customers token comprising a thin plate of sheet material having rows of letters embossed in Jthe plate, the plate having slits extending parallel to said rows adjacent certain of the rows.

8. A printing device of the type used as a customers token comprising a thin plate of sheet material having rows of letters embossed in the plate, characterized by openings through the plate between certain of the rows and above and below the top and bottom rows respectively.

9. A printing device of the type used as a customers token comprising a thin plate of sheet material having rows of letters embossed in the plate, the plate having slits extending parallel to said rows between certain of the rows and above and below the top and bottom rows respectively.

10. A printing plate comprising parallel bands each having raised letters and marginal portions interconnecting the bands at the ends, the letter bands and marginal portions being integrally formed from a single sheet of material.

11. A. printing plate having a central portion provided with rows of raised letters and oiset marginal portions integral with the raised-letter portion, the plate having an opening adjacent the rows in the central portion only.

12. A printing plate having a central portion provided with rows of raised letters and offset marginal portions integral with the raised-letter portion, the plate having a slit extending parallel to said rows in the central portion only.

13. A printing device of the type used as a customers token comprising a thin plate of sheet material having rows of letters embossed in the plate, characterized by an opening through the plate along a line adjacent the aforesaid rows.

14. A printing device of the type used as a customers token comprising a thin plate of sheet material having rows of letters embossed in the plate, the plate having a slit extending parallel to said rows on one side of the rows.

HARRY J. FARRINGTON. 

